As a young entrepreneur, I believed that engagement was about efficiency and not the emotional involvement of each interaction.
I couldn’t build my vision, so I told as many people about it as possible.
This approach made sense at the time. I thought that I would be judged for hacking together design and coding solutions, and I told myself that my lack of “hard-skills” would limit my ability to be successful.
For this piece, I had the opportunity to speak with Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Evangelist of Apple Computers and current Chief Evangelist of the design platform, Canva.
I asked him what he would tell a young entrepreneur who is trying to kickstart a project, but felt they lacked the necessary hard skills to compete in a competitive market.
His answer was simple, “Build what you want to use. Don’t build what you think the market wants or needs. Build for yourself and then hope you’re not the only person in the world who wants it.”
Start building and quit thinking there is a certain way of getting things done.
It’s in those moments where you are forced to think differently that you learn the most about yourself.
The proliferation of such companies as Uber, Dropbox, Netflix, and AirBNB has opened the world to all of us as designers
The story of these disruptors breaks the adage that designers are artists – but instead those who can take a concept from a spark to a proposal.
Be fearless as you enter your new role.
For some, this may be as simple as a mindset shift, but for others, it will be challenging to enter the realm of paranoia and vulnerability.
Complacency will always be there to remind you how easy it is easy to say “I will someday.”
Think of the countless number of problems that you have solved in your daily life and the creative proposals that addressed each problem.
You have already had the tools of a designer, and you’re ready to channel these into your projects and ventures.
I challenge you to start your sprint today to turn that idea that’s been sitting in the back of your head into a step forward.
Build your vision for yourself and one day the world will be your audience.
This is a Contributor Post. Opinions expressed here are opinions of the Contributor. Influencive does not endorse or review brands mentioned; does not and cannot investigate relationships with brands, products, and people mentioned and is up to the Contributor to disclose. Contributors, amongst other accounts and articles may be professional fee-based.